Gaslighting
by TeamEmmett101
Summary: Series of short stories. Bella is emotionally and mentally abused by Charlie. Rated M for language and abuse. A journal of sorts. Curious to see what you think. More to come.
1. Chapter 1

Only a few more steps. She breathed heavily. It felt like it'd been miles. She'd voiced her distaste for long hikes, yet here she was, on what seemed to be the thousandth step to the top of the island. She let in the misty, cool air. She was sure his presence was making it colder.

Two weeks. That's how long it'd been. Two weeks without her family, her friends, her life. She felt like an alien. She felt like a fucking prisoner.

It all seemed perfect on the outside. It always did. He liked it that way.

He hadn't even asked if she wanted to go. No. Not once.

He just bought the ticket. Her ticket, with her name on it. She complied because she always did. What choice did she have? The comment about hiking had been an excuse. She just couldn't stomach the thought of spending two weeks with him. She'd already put her foot down on spending every other weekend with him. If she was honest, she tried to avoid spending any time with him at all.

But here she was. In a different country. On a different continent. Away from everyone she loved. Totally isolated. He liked it that way.

When they reached the top of the island, she felt the cold fingers grip her arm.

'Let's take a picture.'

That was code for 'I have something to say that would be inappropriate to say in front of other people.' He did that sometimes.

He pulled her aside.

'Stop this right now.' He demanded.

'Stop what?' The only thing she could be accused of was pure misery.

'Stop acting like an asshole.'

Her heart sank. Of course. It wasn't enough that she'd spent the last 11 days crying herself to sleep. It didn't matter that every time she ate, even just a bite, an anxiety arose so strongly that she was hardly able to keep anything down. He didn't care that she'd manifested illness because in her mind, her innocently damaged mind, she was never going home. This was it. His plan had worked. She'd die here. But it didn't matter.

Because it was all her fault, right?

Wasn't it always?

She put it all away. She added bricks to her wall. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself to keep from falling apart. She put on a smile.

She lost just a bit more of her soul.

Because he liked it that way.


	2. Chapter 2

2007

She was eight. Or nine maybe. Physically she was a child, but it had never seemed that way. She grew up too fast, forced to pick sides and fight for what little she could hold on to. The arguments were a regular part of life now, along with the uncertainty that begot them. Today was no different.

They sat in the living room. Her, her brother, her mother, and him. The voices rose and fell and every egg shell she'd spent the years avoiding cracked and crumbled under the heat.

She was a chess piece in their game. She didn't know what was true anymore. She knew he was bad. She knew what he did to her mother and she'd never hold an ounce of love or respect towards him. But she held fear, and that was enough to mold her into any shape he preferred. She said what she didn't mean and added another tick mark to the mental chalkboard that noted her defeats.

But some things she couldn't stand. She wouldn't.

She would never, ever in her lifetime stand by while he threatened the people she loved most. Her true family. She may be afraid, but she wasn't a coward.

She watched her mother storm off. She say his face twist the way it did.

'DAMN IT, RENEE!' His voiced must've carried beyond the acreage their home sat on. Surely somebody else felt the vibration of his black soul rattle.

She made her move.

She put every force of her tiny body into protection mode. She always had. He could hurt her, but no one else. That was the rule.

She rocketed off her seat and put herself between them, as he stalked after her mother.

'DON'T TOUCH HER! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!'

Her throat ached with the magnitude of her scream.

She knew then. The last string that attached some idea she held of humanity or redemption for him snapped. She had seen the ghosts in his eyes. And the truth was, he wasn't her family. He had been forced into her life, and she wouldn't dare let him destroy her family that he had no right to belong to. They were saints and he was the devil, and it was her job to keep them safe. She'd do what she had to. She'd take the responsibility. She had to.

The fight ended. Battle grounds were redrawn. Preparation for the war continued.


	3. Chapter 3

July 2014

It was official. The rug was being pulled out from beneath them.

He couldn't handle it anymore, he said. The stress was too much, he said.

She wasn't stupid, something he'd always mistaken her for. She was very smart in fact, but even the blind could see right through him. This had nothing to do with money or anything of the matter. She knew for a fact he was rolling it, although she'd never seen a penny of it. Her mother had had to rack up nearly a quarter of a million dollars in debt during their marriage to pay for food and clothing for her and her brothers. He wouldn't let her work, wouldn't allow it. But she knew that he made well over a 6 digit salary. It was sick.

She knew it wasn't the money. It was the fact that he'd moved on. He'd spent 6 years post-divorce trying to make her mother's life hell, but now he had new conquests. Conquests that liked to be taken shopping. Conquests that liked to get their nails done. Conquests who didn't appreciate ex-wives and children that weren't his to be occupying the second house that he kept after stealing it from them in the divorce. What a fucking saint. Bless him. She rolled her eyes at the pettiness of it all.

But now it was gone. He was selling it. The deal was that they'd stay through senior year, until she graduated. That was one year away. Apparently the heart came first, or rather the lack there of. So she packed her boxes, uncertain as to what her future held. The home that she'd known for 14 of her 17 years was no more. Her mother hardly could supply the things they needed to survive with two children already in college. The rent on a new apartment would double the stresses that were already overbearing.

He didn't care. As long as he was happy, she could be homeless for all he cared. Hell, she pretty much was.

She said her goodbyes. She said goodbye to the solace of her mint green walls. To the comfort of the dated kitchen. To the basement where her friends gathered every weekend like clockwork. She said goodbye to her animals that weren't allowed to come to the small apartment above the catering business. To her beloved cat, her baby. She said goodbye to her peace.

He didn't care.

He didn't care.

He didn't care.

In his mind, nothing was at all the matter. Everything was golden and he was fucking Pony Boy. The turmoil of his daughter didn't bother him in the slightest.

_You have one new voicemail._

That will tie into a future chapter.


End file.
